Christmas Part 1

The big highlight of Christmas week was Colin meeting the Hantz cousins from France for the first time.  Although they were in the states when Colin was born they were unable to meet him then so he couldn't wait for the day to finally come. 

Right away he warmed up to cousin Sarah,...

cousin Pierre,...

and cousin Augustin!

 

After spending lots of time playing around the house and getting to know each other we headed over to Gee Gee's for the Illumination Reception.  It was a beautiful evening with many special family moments.

All of us at the reception including Aunt Jayne and cousin Judy.

Colin enjoyed lots of cuddle time at the reception with Nana.  "Mmm, Nana I love the taste of your thumb!"

Gee Gee and her great grandchild:

Family portrait:

The next day we surprised the kids by going to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.  Aunt Jen O came along and was a really big help.  Before we hit the aquarium we stopped off at an Irish restaurant on the Inner Harbor called Tir Na Nog (Mommy and Daddy stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Ireland with the same name!).  We had a great meal and really enjoyed our time with Aunt Erin, Uncle Thomas, and the kids.

Once we got to the aquarium Colin was a little frightened by the giant shark mouth. Ahhhhh!!

Sarah was afraid of the shark coming after her too!

Pierre absolutely loved all of the exhibits.  For a four year old he really had a long attention span and explored each glass intently.  Here he was dragging his finger back and forth across the length of the exhibit while the turtle followed along.

Aunt Jen, Sarah, and Pierre were all excited to find the cast of Finding Nemo in one of the tanks (can you find Nemo's Father, Nemo, and Dory?).

Colin, on the other hand, was more fascinated by the crocodile staring right at him.

After spending lots of time in the aquarium we wrapped up our visit by watching the dolphin show.  As you can see, Colin enjoyed it!

He shared lots of giggles with Sarah while waiting for the show to start.  Click here to see them in action.

We are missing photos of cousin Augustin from the day because he unfortunately got sick as soon as we entered the first exhibit.  Poor little guy.  Aunt Erin spent the day with him in the complimentary guest room watching the same video over and over.  This was only the beginning of a looong week of illnesses...more on that to come...

Back at Nana and Grandpa's house that evening, Sarah showed off all of the ways she can hold Lilly.

Option 1:

Option 2:

Option 3:  (check out Colin chillin in the background)

Pierre and especially Sarah had a great time with Lilly.  She almost couldn't handle all of the excitement so we had to give her "nap-time" in her cage each day.  It was good preparation for when Colin starts to harass her!

We spent more time at Gee Gee's house the next day and Colin decided he wanted to take a stab at sitting up on his own.  Not too shabby! 

Silly cousins:

That evening, Daddy's friends, Ajay and Travis, came over for a visit.  We went to downtown York for dinner and truly had a great time catching up.  Colin stayed awake the whole time and was just like one of the boys.